Throughout the past week, we’ve learned a lot from behind-the-scenes about Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard with the FTC trial. It’s been revealed that the upcoming Indiana Jones game will be an Xbox and PC exclusive. Microsoft acquired Zenimax to keep Starfield from Sony and PlayStation. SIE President & CEO Jim Ryan claimed that many publishers find Xbox Game Pass to be “value destructive.” The final day of the FTC trial was no exception. The last day revealed that Phil Spencer wants to make all upcoming Zenimax titles Xbox exclusive. Canada also disagreed with Xbox’s claim that worldwide regulators are onboard with the merger.
In a November 2021 meeting, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer made the big decision to make all Zenimax games Xbox exclusive. During Xbox CFO Tim Stuart’s time on the witness stand, attention was called to a chat conversation between him and Xbox Games Studio’s Matt Booty. The conversation was about a recent monthly business review meeting between Xbox and Zenimax. During the meeting, Spencer made the call that he wanted to make all Zenimax games exclusive going forward, not just new IP.
“All games going forward?” Stuart asked. “Not just new IP, but ALL games going forward? Wow.” Booty confirmed the intention during the chat conversation. “Phil Spencer told them all titles going foward, Xbox exclusive,” he said.
The other notable revelation that came out of the final day in the FTC trial was Canada’s regulation agency coming out publically and not supporting the Xbox Activision Blizzard acquisition. Canadian Competition Bureau lawyer Jonathan Bitran wrote to Microsoft lawyers Beth Wilkinson and Bambo Obaro to address some “factual inaccuracies” in a court document submitted during the evidentiary hearing between the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Microsoft.
“Contrary to the foregoing quotations from the Memorandum, in a videoconference on May 5, 2023, the Bureau communicated to Microsoft and Activision’s Canadian counsel that the Bureau has concluded that the proposed merger is likely to result in a substantial prevention and/or lessening of competition with respect to gaming consoles and multigame subscription services (as well as cloud gaming) and that the Bureau is continuing to monitor the transaction,” Bitran wrote.
“We received notice from the Canada Competition Bureau that it would continue to monitor our acquisition of Activision Blizzard after the formal waiting period preventing the deal to close expired,” a Microsoft spokesperson told IGN in a statement. “We continue to work with regulators around the world to address any remaining concerns.”